Growth in Number of Americans Citing No Religion May Be Slower Than Previously Reported

New data shows slower increase in 1990s, with possible stagnant growth in late 90s, early 2000s

SAN FRANCISCO — Americans continue to pull away from organized
religion, but the rate of departure previously reported may not have
been as abrupt as originally thought, according to research presented
at the 104th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

Sociologists Michael Hout and Claude S. Fischer of the University of
California, Berkeley, find that the previous estimate of a doubling
during the 1990s of the proportion of Americans with no religion
probably started earlier than 1991 and doubled over a 14- or 15-year
period. New data suggest that the trend continued through 2008, likely
fueled at least partially by the growing number of Americans who were
raised with no religion.

The current investigation revisits the researchers’ April 2002 American Sociological Review
article, “Why More Americans Have No Religious Preference: Politics and
Generations,” using data from the General Social Survey fielded between
1973 and 2008. The General Social Survey is conducted by the National
Opinion Research Center and funded by the National Science Foundation.

According to the new data, 93 percent of Americans believe in God; a
figure unchanged since 1988. The group that increased was the group
Hout and Fischer call “unchurched believers,” those people who believe
in God but report no religion.

”If you think of organized religion as having two parts—the organized
part and the religious part—the church-leavers’ quarrel is with the
organized part,” said Michael Hout, professor of sociology at the
University of California, Berkeley, and the lead author of the study.

As originally reported in 2002, Hout and Fischer assert that politics
continue to play a role in the increase in those reporting no religion
preference. The sociologists note a parallel between the rising rates
of non-religious Americans and the number of mentions of the “religious
right” in press coverage in the past nearly four decades.

Political liberals and moderates are much less likely to report a
religion now than in 1988; almost all political conservatives identify
with a church now as they did twenty years ago.

“Invoking religion to promote a conservative social agenda may energize
conservative members, but it alienates political moderates and
liberals,” Hout said. “The result has been a significant decrease in
the fraction of American adults identifying with an organized
religion.”

Americans expressed stronger anti-religious feelings in 2008 than in
1998. For example, two-thirds of adults agreed that “religion brings
more conflict than peace” in 2008 compared with just one-third in 1998.
Similarly more Americans described themselves as “non-religious” in
2008 than in 1998.

Among the rising number of Americans who cite no religious preference,
those who believe in either God or the afterlife outnumber those with
no beliefs. In addition, the number of religiously affiliated
non-believers declined sharply between 1973 and 2008.

Hout and Fischer presented the research, “The Politics of Religious
Identity in the United States, 1974-2008,” on Sunday, Aug. 9, at 8:30
a.m. PDT, in the Hilton San Francisco at the American Sociological
Association’s 104th annual meeting.

To obtain a copy of Hout’s presentation; for more information on other
ASA presentations; or for assistance reaching the study authors,
contact Jackie Cooper at pubinfo@asanet.org
or (202) 247-9871. During the annual meeting (Aug. 8-11), ASA’s Public
Information Office staff can be reached in the press room, located in
the Hilton San Francisco’s Union Square 1 & 2 room, at (415)
923-7558, (415) 923-7561 or (301) 509-0906 (cell).